1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors and their assembly procedure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cylindrical electrical connectors generally comprise a housing in which is lodged a stack of parts having aligned passages to receive contact plugs. The stack can comprise a retention element and be sealed in the housing by means of a resin before insertion of the contact plugs in their passages. The drawback of this assembly procedure is that the resin can penetrate into the passages provided for the plugs and partially block them, making it difficult or impossible to insert the plugs.
To solve this problem, French Pat. No. 2,341,211, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,799, discloses an assembly procedure permitting the sealing of the connector with no risk of having the resin flow into the passages provided for insertion of the plugs.
According to this patent, such a connector comprising a housing in which is lodged a stack of parts having aligned passages provided to receive contact plugs, the stack including at least one washer forming a retention element for the plugs, and an insert separated from the housing by a space. The stack is held in the housing by a deformable laminated material that surrounds the insert and the washer, and fills the space comprised between them and the housing.
In practice, the laminated material is a porous tape which has to be wound around a sleeve. Two other sleeves are necessary to proceed with the assembly and prevent the tape from creasing. The device which permits the assembly therefore comprises three sleeves and the procedure, finally, is rather time consuming to implement.
It would be desirable to provide a connector and assembly technique which overcame these drawbacks.